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Sunday, Nov. 22, 1998

Young Marines graduate

Program emphasizes leadership, discipline

By STEPHANIE L. JORDAN
Staff Writer

   Nine-year-old Shane Sowder gets straight A's now, but he didn't always.
   The perfectionist middle child of Terry and Terri Sowder used to have trouble in school. After one particularly rough week, his parents thought he needed someplace where he could go and feel as if he belonged. So he became a Young Marine. That was in July. On Saturday he graduated from the program with honors.
   "I credit the people here," Terry Sowder said, pointing to the group of men and women in camouflage being pulled every which way for graduation pictures.
   Young Marines began in Connecticut in 1958 as the Marine Corps League's official youth program. It started in Corpus Christi in 1996 with 17 participants as part of the Drug Demand Reduction Program and has graduated more than 300 area youths. It is run entirely by volunteers.
   Participants pay $30 for the first year and $8 each following year they are involved, to cover insurance. Children ages 8 to 15 are eligible to join. Sponsors can be found to cover the fees if parents can't afford it, said Harry Alfeo, the Young Marines coordinator.
   The children meet for two hours Wednesday nights and five hours on the second Saturday of the month for five months.
   On Saturday, 99 youths graduated from the program. This group was large enough to break into four squadrons to make the class more manageable for the group of volunteers who run it.
   And the participants get a lot of attention.
   When Shane first joined, he had a rough time adjusting. At one point a drill sergeant told him to calm down or he was going to get kicked out. But he didn't want that and did a 360 degree turnaround, said Richard Cantu, a former Marine who helps run the program.
   To teach Shane to be a leader and to be disciplined, the Young Marine organizers didn't punish him when he made mistakes. They promoted him, his parents said.
   "We gave him responsibilities he had to live up to, and he knew it," Cantu said. "You just can't jump on a kid's butt every time he screws up. You need to show them that you care and will spend time with them."
   The Young Marines program teaches boys and girls self-discipline, respect and confidence. And by their own admission, none needed that more than the seven Villarreal brothers who joined in July.
   "I wanted to learn respect, I guess, because I talked back," 13-year-old Eric Villarreal said. "I used to think it was cool."
   But he and his brothers don't think that anymore. Juan, 16, Joseph and Willie, both 15, George, 14, Eric, 13, Ricky, 12 and Henry, 11, all joined after the three oldest signed up at their father's urging. Now they cheer each other on in competition to see who can run the most or do the most push-ups.
   The volunteers have goals for the area's youth, Cantu said.
   "What we'd really like to do is have more Young Marines than there are gang members."
   Young Marines who graduated Saturday:
   Platoon Three: Ashley E. Ausland, Jennifer N. Ausland; Kristie R. Barnes; Bernardo Bowers; Blanca L. Coleman; Debra D. Cuellar; Sara K. Cuellar; Rueben E. Flowers; Adam L. Garcia; Adrian M. Garcia; Alberto D. Garcia; Michael B. Garcia; Rey M. Garcia; Matthew L. Georg; Vanessa Guerrero; Mark D. Lopez; Travis J. Lopez; Stephen D. McMinn; Brian R. Moody; Jimmy L. Nelson Jr.; Desiree Patterson; Lonnie Porter IV; Robert D. Reyna; Jeanette N. Rivera; Joseph A. Saenz; Tamara L. Salsman; Aaron M. Sanchez; Daniel P. Tamez; Veronica Tortu; Emily A. Tree and Joshua Underbrink.
   Platoon Four: Adrian Alaniz Jr.; Jacob D. Alvarado; Joseph Alvarado; Baldemar Barba; Marcos Benavides; Tony Bonilla III; Marcos A. Cantu; Richard E. Cruz; Alan E. Cuellar; Robert Degollado; Zenaido Degollado; Brien L. Dehnert; Robert A. Dehnert; Nick DelaGarza; Ryan A. Esquivel; Rashon Flowers; Ryan L. Flowers; Arturo B. Garcia; Robert Garza; Joey E. Graham; Samuel Guerra; Ramiro Guerrero; Travis Hernandez; Wayne Hernandez; Ricky Kalmus; Matthew Luna; Christopher Moody and Jorge D. Noriega.
   Platoon Five: Jose Balli III; Chris P. Cuevas; Joseph Godinez; Robert L. Grafton; Adam Jimenez; Christian Jimenez; Carl Koenig IV; Daniel Maldonado; Scott C. Meyer; Armando Meza; Adrian Mirelez; Lionel D. Najar; Richard Olivares; Jerry Rodriguez; James K. Salsman; Joe E. Tagle; Eric J. Villarreal; Henry Villarreal; Jorge Villarreal; Juan Villarreal; Julius Villarreal; Ricky Villarreal; Robert Villarreal; Willie Villarreal and Bryan Yzaguirre.
   Platoon Six: Albert A. Martinez; Joshua D. Mican; Alejandro Moreno; Julian A. Olalde; Javier Perez Jr.; Louie Reyes; Abraham Rodriguez; David A. Rogers; Justin L. Salinas; Shane L. Sowder; Bryan Steiner; Nathan Steiner; Samuel G. Tamez; Clayton P. Tree; Andrew Villarreal, Sonny A. Villarreal; Kevin L. Yzaguirre and Zachary Zapata.
   

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  © 1998 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.